here are my thoughts:
my apologies if my thoughts are a bit spread out all over the page, but take them into account and you'll see this idea evolve into the best thing competitive AC has had ever. it just depends what you decide to do.
- 2pm gmt on sunday is a disgusting time for australians, as it is midnight and makes it impossible for us to attend school/work the following morning. 1pm on a saturday would work well for every time zone, including american timezones. the very worst affected timezone would be for people living on the west coast USA, and they would play at 7am onwards. id also stray away from modelling it on the swl as it is extremely awfully run. if you were to go ahead and run it on that time anyway, i'd rather make a competing tournament myself, regardless of how well run your league is, i and other players won't be able to play in it. be careful not to alienate players.
- seeing that you're going to add multiple cups for multiples modes, i'd suggest running 3vs3 ctf on saturdays and 1vs1 dm/surv on sundays, with single round format for earlier rounds of 1vs1 in order to ensure it progresses quickly, with semi finals/grand final in 2 map format. there should be a 32/64 person limit for any 1vs1 tournaments, and a 16 team limit for 3vs3 on a first come first serve basis. if somehow we get to a point where much more than 16 teams are signing up every week, then things will need to be changed but i doubt that will happen. if you want to change the modes on a bi-weekly basis then that is fine as well, its up to you i guess. however 3vs3 ctf is the most practiced and evolved mode in matches, so it should have priority.
- a bracket should be posted immediately as the competition begins, i'm quite sure an update-able bracket is possible to put together on the website. teams/players should be listed upon signing up as a activating each team is strenuous, and cheaters/offenders can simply be removed if the admin sees their account or they do try to sign up.
- a third place playoff would be nice as well and wouldn't be a burden to have, so when previous results are listed you can see a first, second and third placing rather than just first and second.
- you will need to ensure a proper map pool is in place as well, ESPECIALLY for 1vs1 or else people will begin picking ridiculous things like elevation and sunset.
- you're going to need a mandatory chat system for the organization of matches, else it becomes impossible to sort matches out. either an inbuilt chat into the website or IRC, or IRC built into the web page (lol).
- be extremely strict regarding people showing up or not. the beauty of a weekend cup is anyone can show up and just play, rather than having to be an organized team for tournaments and such. if people sign up and just don't show after 5 minutes of beginning, they should just be removed. i also suggest a 4 person limit for 3vs3 and a 2 person limit for 2vs2, rather than having clans join. if clans want their entire list to play, they should submit multiple teams.
- i also suggest a 4 person limit for 3vs3 and a 2 person limit for 2vs2, rather than having entire clans join. if clans want their entire list to play, they should submit multiple teams.
- your rule regarding spectators should be subject to change depending on the activity of casters/streamers in AC. only referees/admins/casters/streamers/players should be allowed in the server if a stream is available, or else there isn't any encouragement for streaming or esports in AC. if people really wanted to get into the server, and there was a stream for every tournament, you could even start selling monthly match passes to the server, in a similar likeness to dota2. on another note, please don't have 5 or something referees in a server like the acwc, you only need 1 referee, a backup referee(even that is questionable) and anyone else who is a referee should be removed.
- you're not going to need many, if any referees for something like this, except for maybe one or two in the final or the semis. the ro32/16/8 should just be left up to the players, with the results reported to the referee. i don't believe there is need for screenshots/demos to be submitted as it is just a formality. players are able to organize matches cleanly and fairly themselves, and if there are any disputes then the demos/screenshots can be sent to an admin or referee. something tells me there wont be many disputes though.
- lets do a bit of math to assume how long each tournament will take assuming optimal organization. at 1pm gmt in a ro16 ctf competition, game 1 will begin. lets assume that it takes 5 minutes for every team to set themselves up and start the match, completely possible if the tournament is organized well. both sides play 15 minutes on each map, and then a 15 minute final. so now we're at 1:50pm gmt. with absolute optimal organization, the ro8 begins at 1:55pm gmt, and ends at 2:40pm gmt. ro4 begins at 2:45 pm and ends at 3:30pm. that was 2 and a half hours just to get through 3 rounds. do you see how absurdly long that takes for a weekend cup?
what you will need to do is change some things around. here are my suggestions:
- on all servers where the tournament is played, the maps/modes have to last for 10 minutes in ctf/htf rather than the full 15 minutes. this is how i think it should be in AC, but its a good idea to take the lead and do it in a competition first if there isn't any support.
- you have the option to play the earlier rounds with a server mod allowing for 5/7:30 minute halves for each map, and only playing a single, predetermined map for the ro16/8. the specifics of this are subject to discussion, of course.
with the fast pace of rounds being played, and with optimal organization, it should only take a couple of minutes to get the next match started.
lets now assume we play at 1pm gmt, and the first match ends at 1:15 on a single map with 5 minute halves. then, the next match ends at 1:27.
jesus christ, we're at the ro4 within 30 minutes! what i've listed are just the options you have, and i trust you as the administrator to work out a format that doesn't make the cup drag out for an absurd amount of time.
- this does seem like a rather big undertaking on an AC scale, so when you do get this running make sure you have 1 or 2 people to help you out on the administrative side of things. you need a bit of bureaucracy sometimes but be liberal with who you appoint to such an undertaking.
my apologies if my thoughts are a bit spread out all over the page, but take them into account and you'll see this idea evolve into the best thing competitive AC has had ever. it just depends what you decide to do.